christopher-underwood

Of course it is a revenge thriller but there so much more and something very different. A little slow at the start but it is rather lovely as the pearl divers go over those little boats and down into the blue water. The beautiful Mari Shiranto is in trouble and after the sorrow and sadness there will be retribution. And how! She is really good in this and Toshiharu Ikeda so well controlled, especially in the water and when the lovely lady is killing mood. I also liked Ikeda in Angel Guts: Red Porno (1981) and Angel Dead Trap (1988) and with this one in-between.

Willem Dafoe was amazing and the wilderness and landscape, not to mention the infamous Tasmanian tiger. Early on the 'hunting' was okay but there was too much walking around, so many setting of traps and surely too many baths. Because Dafoe, the woods and the children were fine but I started to get bored and after the last half hour it become rather silly. Shame because it was something rather different and could have been really interesting.

The opening is a fight in the rain and shot at unusual angles. It appears that a detective is doing well with a younger guy seemingly in crouched or squat fighting position but usually on the floor against the wall and over the wall but then suddenly he is all over the detective and he seems to enjoy thumping him to death. It seems this war photography journalist may have been traumatised. Out of the dark our anti hero is in the light and very colourful inside, it is a casino, and he carries on fighting, takes over a gun and kills all them and picks up a large amount of money. A very strange opening and this killer is surely no normal killer or robber. We find out he is not and this gets more and more bizarre and terrible and I find that this is stunning and thrilling but so scary he had seen the horrors of his war and the ending, so awful, is almost unwatchable.